Life With The Five F's

Welcome to my F-ing life!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

My local grocery store sometimes lacks in certain departments. Sometimes, I really wish I could afford to shop at one or two of the 'upscale' food stores; not because of the brand/notoriety of the place, but simply because they are the only places I can sometimes find things I want.

Alas, these pricey stores are so out of my budget, that I can only dream of going actual weekly shopping there.

I stick to the normal food store and sometimes the grocery section of the local Wal-Mart superstore (which is also seriously lacking items on a normal shopping list - I mean, really? They don't even carry sofrito?).

So on a normal trip to a normal (but lower cost) food store chain, I of course can't purchase the fish that I originally wanted for this recipe - halibut. The only acceptable choices in the fresh fish case were flounder or grouper, so I opted for the grouper.

Don't get me wrong... I like grouper! But I had my heart set on halibut. You could use any firm white fish in this preparation. The grouper came out fantastic though, so we weren't disappointed in the least. The fish stayed firm but flaky, and the texture of the almond coating was crunchy and spicy sweet.

As a point of reference, Blue Diamond almonds are what I pulverized in a food processor and used as the coating.

I cut 3 rather large fillets into 6 smaller portions, but you could leave them larger.

Salt and pepper them up.

Coat in flour and shake off excess.

Dip in beaten egg to coat.

Dip into crushed almonds, pressing to coat and stick to fish.

Heat oil in pan and add the fish when it's good and hot.

Cook for a few minutes and flip when the coating gets a nice toasted color. Do the same for the other side.

Rinse off your fillets and place on paper towel to pat dry. Season with salt and pepper.

Place fillets in the flour, and coat both sides. Shake off excess.

Dip the fillets in the egg and thoroughly coat all sides.

Place fillets on top of crumbs, and coat every side, pressing crumbs firmly on fish. Place fillets on clean plate.

In a large skillet, heat oil, over medium high heat. When oil is hot, place fillets in skillet. Cook about 3 minutes per side (depending on the thickness of the fish) and brown all sides until dark golden brown.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

You either love 'em...or you hate 'em. There is no in between, is there?

I happen to love them. In fact, I could count them as my favorite veggie that isn't an oriental veggie. Brussels sprouts look like miniature heads of cabbage. They are quite similar to cabbage in taste, but they are slightly milder in flavor and denser in texture.

Did I mention that they're good for you? They contain significant amounts of vitamin C and vitamin A, and nitrogen compounds called indoles which may reduce the risk of certain cancers.

They are too tough and icky (technical term, you know) to be gnawed raw, but you can steam, blanch, boil, saute and even fry these babies in a huge variety of ways and still not get bored with them.

This quick little side dish method combines them with shallots and mushrooms and goes with just about any entree you want to serve them with.

Start with halving the sprouts, mincing a small shallot and quartering some button mushrooms.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

I almost feel guilty eating breakfast for dinner...like I'm cheating or something. But breakfast foods, at least of the hot variety, are a comfort food to me. If left to my own devices, pancakes and french toast would each be on the menu at least once a week. Now we have been known (in a tight week) to have cereal for dinner (and then I really feel weird going to bed four hours later...), but I don't get caught up in as big of a guilt trip with a hot breakfast for dinner.

Especially when there's bacon involved at any level.

This dish combines several favorite breakfast staples into one complete little package. How can that not be good? I have several variations to try with this one, which I'll get to in a second, but this is the "master" recipe they all stemmed from.

This is also one of those variable types of dishes. You can take out or add what you like...anytime...and it still works!

Dice up some bacon.

Crisp it up in a pan and drain off on a paper towel.

Add some butter and oil (or if there's enough bacon grease, use that) and toss those shredded taters in.

Crisp those bad boys up!

Whisk up some eggs...

...add some milk...

...some shredded cheese...

...some chopped spinach...

...and whisk your little fingers off!

Add potatoes to the bottom of your bowls (or baking dish).

Add the nummy bacon.

Pour the egg mixture over the potatoes and bacon.

I added a small pat of butter (that I quartered) to each bowl. Totally unnecessary, but I wanted more butter. Sue me.

Put the breakfasty goodness in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Add some more cheese to the top and cook another few minutes.

Take 'em out of the oven and let sit for a few minutes to set.

You can remove to a plate, or serve inside the bowl!

Other variations I might try would be cooked in a tortilla shell, a puff pastry shell, or a thick(er) slice of ham that I would shape inside the same souffle dishes or maybe in a jumbo muffin tin. I might also toss in some items one might find in an omelet, like peppers, onions, mushrooms, or even some shrimp or crab!

If there is at least 2 tbsp of bacon grease left in the skillet, add 2 tbsp butter and omit the olive oil. Use 2 tbsp (or less) of olive oil to make a total of 2 tbsp (so there's 2 tbsp butter plus 2 tbsp of bacon grease/olive oil). Add shredded potatoes and salt/pepper. Cook potatoes until just crisp and starting to brown.

Remove potatoes to the bottom of glass baking dish (a 9x13 would work) or four 6 inch individual souffle dishes. Sprinkle bacon pieces on top of potatoes.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, milk, spinach and 1-1/2 cup cheese together. Pour egg mixture over bacon and potatoes.

Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle 1/2 cup remaining cheese on top. Bake 3 to 5 minutes more, just until cheese melts. For a crispier top, switch to broiler and broil for 2 to 3 minutes.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

I enjoy a good popper every now and then, but sometimes I don't want them fried. Weird, I know.

I get like that (all wishy-washy) when it comes to fried foods. Sometimes I really crave something...anything fried. Thank goodness that craving doesn't overtake me too often (well, often enough...), and if I don't feel like something fried, I try to figure out how not to fry it and get a similar satisfaction from the dish.

You won't miss the frying on these, trust me...

Halve, core and stuff with cream cheese.

Wrap 'em in bacon...

Yum!

Eat 'em while they're hot...

Three Ingredient Jalapeño Poppers

20 whole fresh Jalapenos, about 2-3 inches long

2 bricks of softened cream cheese

1 pound thin-sliced bacon, sliced in half

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut jalapeños in half, length-wise. With a spoon, remove the seeds and the ribs.

Fill each half with softened cream cheese. Wrap the jalapeños with a slice of bacon. (You can use a toothpick to secure if needed)

Layer them on a baking sheet and cook in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. If, after 20 minutes, the bacon doesn’t look brown enough, feel free to turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes just to finish them off, but keep an eye on them so they don't burn.

Monday, February 14, 2011

I used to work in an office in a strip mall. On the other end of the strip mall, there was a little Japanese / Teppanyaki place I used to frequent quite often. It's been awhile since I've been there. Too long, in fact. They had fantastic Bento box lunches, sushi, and I remember this is where I tried Negimaki for the very first time.

Negimaki, also called negima, is simply strips of beef marinated in a teriyaki sauce and rolled with scallions. Traditionally, the beef is broiled, but you can certainly grill it or sear it in a frying pan just as easily.

I make these little bundles of happiness when I need a nice and easy dinner. Serve them with rice and a veggie and you'll have happy tummies all around.

Place each steak between sheets of plastic wrap and gently pound until 1/8 inch thick.

Lay 3 scallions down the length of each piece of meat; tightly roll up from the long side. Cut alternately straight across and diagonally in 2" pieces. Secure with toothpick. Place in large zip-lock bag.

Stir sauce, sugar and water in bowl until sugar dissolves. Add 1/3 cup of this mixture to Ziploc bag; refrigerate 30 minutes to one hour.

Heat skillet over medium high heat. Add negimaki for about 4-5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Discard marinade.